China iron ore imports up 1.5% in Jan-Feb 2020 vs last year

China's iron ore imports rose by 1.5% year on year to 176.84 million tonnes in January-February 2020 amid the Lunar New Year shutdown and coronavirus (2019-nCoV) spread, the country's General Administration for Customs said.

Before the Chinese New Year holiday, iron ore demand from China is typically quite good because steel mills prefer to restock material while blast furnaces (BFs) continue to work during the holiday.
"We did increase iron ore purchases before the Chinese New Year holiday this year, as before, but purchase volumes have been restrained since the coronavirus outbreak, with some BFs under maintenance," a Chinese steelmaker said.

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